The Manor's Mistress
by Miss HBIC
Summary: Narcissa Malfoy loves her son and husband more than anything in the world. Sometimes, though, there are complications...
1. Chapter 1

**A 7 chapter short story, exploring Draco's seven Hogwarts years through Narcissa's eyes.**

The Manor's Mistress

"He's not going to Durmstrang!"

The Hogwarts letter sat unopened upon the long, gleaming wood table in the manor's impressive dining room. Draco had not yet seen it, and he wouldn't be allowed to see it, until his parents made a decision.

"I don't want him to go to Durmstrang. It's too far away." Narcissa said firmly, glaring at her husband across the room.

"Hogwarts is a pathetic excuse for a school, Cissy. Especially with that old fool Dumbledore running it. I know the headmaster of Durmstrang." Lucius persisted.

"We went to Hogwarts." She pointed out. Lucius rolled his eyes.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"He could continue the Slytherin line! We were both in Slytherin. Everybody in your family has been in Slytherin, and every Black has been in Slytherin, too. Well, except Sirius…But we disowned him anyway, so it's not like it mattered." She shrugged, unconcerned with the family's biggest embarrassment.

"Igor could make connections. We were death eaters together and now that he's out of Azakaban-" Narcissa cut him off.

"Oh, he was a death eater? That makes me so reassured about sending him, Lucius!"

The couple leaned against the walls, never taking their eyes off each other, silently daring the other to continue the argument. Her lip twitching, she walked across the room to stand infront of Lucius, wrapping one arm around his waist and putting her other hand on his shoulder. He pursed his lips in a tight line.

"Please? This would make me so happy. I'd be able to keep closer contact with him, it would reassure me. And Severus is there, at Hogwarts. He's our old friend from school! We've always liked him. And with him teaching potions, we'll know that Draco's at least being taught something." She looked up at her husband with her gray blue eyes.

Lucius wasn't stupid. He knew she had switched her tactics from arguing to get her way, to pleading. He always wanted her to be happy. There were pros and cons for each school. He did like the idea of his son being a Slytherin. And it was true-He and Severus Snape had been friendly with each other for a long time. He let out a long sigh and looked down at her. Her beautiful face broke into a radiant smile. She knew she had won.

"Oh, thank you Lucius! Thank you!" She cried, kissing him. He smirked.

"You know, I'm not just doing this for you." She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Of course you're not." She teased. She pulled away from him, picked up the letter, and made her way upstairs to Draco's room. He'd be so pleased. After all, he had heard many stories about Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2

The Manor's Mistress

"How did you give him a sock!"

"Lucius, what happened to the house elf?" Narcissa called out to her husband, confused. Lucius lifted his head from the paper.

"I'm not sure what you mean, dear." He said, somewhat convincingly.

Narcissa appraised him.

"That damned house elf. The one who's been ironing his hands lately…Where is he?" She asked again.

Lucius paused for a moment, folded the paper, and gestured for Narcissa to come here. This would be a hard one to explain. Narcissa walked over, and sat on the arm of his chair. He wrapped an arm around her waist.

"It's Potter's fault." He blurted out. Narcissa's lips parted slightly.

"What? How does our house elf have anything to do with Harry Potter?" They looked at each other for a moment before realization dawned on her.

"Lucius please tell me this isn't somehow connected to the chamber of secrets! Or the attacks that happened earlier this year at the school." He gave her a sheepish look.

"Lucius!" She shrieked, losing her temper. "What did you do!"

"Narcissa, I won't be talked to like that in my own house."

Narcissa glowered at him but kept her mouth shut. Slowly Lucius explained about the chamber being opened, how Dobby seemed to have known Potter, and how when he went to visit Dumbledore Potter had tricked him into setting the retched thing free.

"I still don't get it. What was this book?" Lucius looked weary.

"It was something of the Dark Lord's."

Narcissa froze, still as a statue.

"Lucius, have you completely lost your mind!" She hissed at him, not caring whether he got angry at her or not. "Do you know how hard it was convincing a jury that you only did the Dark Lord's bidding under the imperious curse? And yet, still you sit here, acting on his orders. He's dead. And we should start acting like he is."

It was a common argument Lucius and Narcissa had. Lucius was the death eater. Narcissa had never been one, but she was damn close to. Her sister, brothers in laws, and husband all were. Her old school friends were. She tried to keep out of it, for her safety and for her sons, but it was easier said than done, especially if your house was filled with death eaters and the Dark Lord himself at all hours of the day before his fateful downfall.

"Narcissa, I am still a death eater. It doesn't matter if he's gone or not, but you don't stop being a death eater."

"Fine." Narcissa said angrily, getting up and stomping out of the room. "But he won't be happy if and when he comes back and find you've given his book away."


	3. Chapter 3

The Manor's Mistress

"My baby's hurt!"

Narcissa was screaming. She generally refrained from raising her voice, or cursing, but this was an exception. Her Draco, her son, her baby had been hurt at school by that oaf Hagird. Well, technically he had been attacked by a Hippogriff, but still. He was injured, and she didn't want this to go without consequence.

"Lucius!" She hollered storming upstairs. He was sitting in his office, drinking fire whiskey, and working on a letter to Fudge. He looked up, annoyed. He wasn't in the mood for one of her rants.

"What is it, Narcissa?" He mumbled.

"Look at this!" She cried, throwing the letter the school had sent her toward him. He read it quickly, growing furious.

"How dare they have that incompetent giant teaching!"

"Do something about this!" She shrieked.

Lucius took a moment to consider his options. He'd make sure the hippogriff was taken care of by the executioner, he had that kind of power over the ministry. He would surely be making a complaint to the governors, as to get Hagird fired. Draco would be fine, but he had taught his boy well. He would milk the injury, getting backed up by Severus and making things fall in his favor. Narcissa on the other hand, wouldn't be as easy to take care of.

"I'll get the beast killed, and the fool fired. Everything will be fine, Cissy." He put a hand on her arm. She was still stewing.

"Yes, all of that must be done, but what else? This is inexcusable; this has been the last straw. Every year, it's something else with that school. I've had it up to here with all the nonsense."

She had a point. Two years ago when Draco started at Hogwarts, things had gotten hectic again. She wasn't sure why, but she knew it would get worse before it got better.

"What else do you want me to do? Draco will recover, we'll get our way, and I'll appeal once again to the governors about how Dumbledore's judgment is getting worse as he gets older."

Narcissa thought about her options.

"If we're going to get rid of teachers we don't approve of, try and get Lupin out of there. I remember when we were at school with him. He was friends with Potter and Sirius, and he's also a werewolf."

Lucius nodded in agreement. He didn't like Lupin at all. He was a disgrace in the community, and not fit to be teaching his son.

"Alright, I'll do my best."

He watched her, her face still unhappy and trouble.

"Narcissa, he's fine." He said sternly.

"I still don't like that he got hurt." She sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I know, I know."

They sat in silence for a while. Lucius cleared his throat.

"Can you let me get back to work? I have many letters to write." She nodded and got up, walking toward the door. As she left, Lucius swore he heard her mumble "maybe he should have been sent to Durmstrang."


	4. Chapter 4

The Manor's Mistress

"What's that smell under my nose?"

Narcissa didn't give a damn about quidditch. She had never played it in her life, and she didn't watch it if she could avoid it. Sadly, watching quidditch was exactly what she was about to do. She knew that Lucius was much more excited about the…After of the match, but she was trying not to think about that.

They were up with Cornelius Fudge, as Lucius had just made a generous donation to 's. Surely there was a hidden reason why, but she hadn't bothered to ask. Sometimes, it's better to not know.

She surveyed the box. Well fuck. All of the Weasley children sat in a line of red hair and freckles next to their father, Arthur. If that wasn't bad enough, the mudblood Granger girl and of course, Potter, were with them as well. She lifted her nose in the air and pointedly looked away. Without seeing them, she knew Lucius and Draco were sneering at them.

The match went fine, as far as she could tell. There was some debate about why Barty Crouch never showed up, but she was glad he didn't. It would've been awkward. Her sister and his son both participated in the same crime that got them thrown into Azkaban, and that was one of those things she tried to forget.

The three walked across the camp site, stopping to talk to no one. Lucius was smirking, already anticipating the "fun" he would have with his old "friends" tonight. They entered their extremely large tent, and looked at each other. Narcissa looked up at her husband with expectant eyes.

"Draco-" She started. Draco rolled his eyes at his mother.

"Yes mother, I know. Stay in the woods until everything is over. It's not like anything will happen, though." He added quickly at the end.

"I'm apparating home later. If anything happens, I'll come and get you."

"I thought I just said nothing was going to happen?"

"Don't talk to your mother like that." Lucius interjected. Narcissa resisted the urge to bang her head into a wall.

"Just, go for a moment Draco. Please." He made a face and left the tent, and she turned to her husband.

"Lucius I hope you know what you're doing." Now he rolled his eyes at her.

"Cissy of course I know what I'm doing."

She pondered for a moment. On one hand he had been a deatheater long enough to know the dos and don'ts. On the other hand, the grounds were crawling up the walls with ministry officials, not only from their ministry but from magical governments all over the world. On a third hand, everybody might be too drunk to actually know what was going on. She let out a long sigh.

"I know you do. I'll see you and Draco at home tomorrow for lunch, and I know you'll both be perfectly fine." She put emphasis on the last two words. Standing on her toes, she kissed him on the cheek and disapparated.

She spent the rest of the night in the manor alone. It was dark and cold, and she was lonely and worried. She read the article about the dark mark being scene in the sky in the prophet, and figured Lucius and his friends had pushed the envelope.

When he got home, he explained that it hadn't been them. It had been someone else.

This was the beginning of the end.


	5. Chapter 5

The Manor's Mistress

"Your favorite person broke out of prison…"

The morning started out like it normally does. Get up, get dress, go downstairs for breakfast, pick up the paper.

But today, upon reading the headline, she sprayed pumpkin juice everywhere.

Luckily Lucius wasn't there.

Mass breakout of Azkaban. Bellatrix Lestrange among the prisoners on the loose. Bellatrix Lastrange, formally Bellatrix Black. As in Narcissa Malfoy, formally Narcissa Black.

Every since the Dark Lord returned, she knew that things like this would start happening. It was only a matter of time.

"Lucius?" She said tentatively, wondering if he would here her. She was in the kitchen, and he was in the living room.

"Hm?" She heard him go.

"Have you seen the Prophet this morning?"

"It's on the table." He replied with his 'you're an idiot' voice. She but back her tongue from retorting.

"No, I know where it is. I was wondering if you read it."

"Not thoroughly, why, what's happened?"

She slowly walked into the living room, stood in front of his page, and held up the paper. He snatched it out of her hands, his eyes blurring as he read quickly.

"You know she's going to try and come here, right?"

She grabbed the paper back from him, rolled it up, and smacked him upside the head.

"Lucius! She's my sister! I know you don't like her, but you're going to put up with her. For me."

"Oh believe me Narcissa, you are the only reason I put up with that psychopathic bitch." He snottily replied. Narcissa glared at him.

"I'd rather the psycho than the blood traitor, wouldn't you?"

He didn't reply. He knew sisters were a touchy subject. She still loved Bellatrix, and probably Andromeda deep down, but the betrayal she had was too much. She was two year younger than Andromeda, so when she left the family for a muggle born Cissy had only been 16, and Bella had already joined the death eaters. All in all, it wasn't the best year. Collapsing into an arm chair by the fire, she massaged her temples.

"You know we have to let her in." Glumly, Lucius nodded.

Neither of them would know that Kreacher would come to them, too. Or what miraculous plan Narcissa would think up to help the Dark Lord. They wouldn't be able to tell you that Sirius Black would be dead, or that sufficient injury had been done to Nymphadora Tonks. Certainly though, there was no way to know that Lucius would be in jail, they'd be having a trial, or what horrible service Draco Malfoy would be told to perform in a mere matter of months.


	6. Chapter 6

The Manor's Mistress

"He's just a boy!"

Narcissa didn't have anywhere to turn. She was completely alone. Dear Lucius was in jail, Bellatrix would never support her decision, and she wasn't close to anybody else. She doubted if it ever had, but her loyalty didn't belong to the Dark Lord anymore. It didn't belong to anybody. She no longer wanted any part in this war. She wasn't going to side with Potter, she wasn't going to side with Voldemort. She just wanted her family back. Because her views changed immediately when he gave her son a near impossible task.

Kill Albus Dumbledore.

Something even he who must not be named himself had never been able to do.

She was a prisoner in her own home. Deatheaters hung around day and night, the manor was being used as base and a meeting spot, and her sister was off the wall insane. She got some respect, yes, being the mistress of the manor, and nobody would want to deal with Lucius when he got out of Azkaban and found they had been mistreating her.

She could feel the walls closing in all around her. The stench of dirty, sweaty bodies filler her nose. She escaped to the garden, which wasn't much of a garden. Everything was dark green, brown, and gray. A curling mist wrapped around her feet, and she sunk to the damp bench.

"Cissy?" She heard Bella call. She repressed a sigh.

"In the garden." She managed to say. She heard her eldest sister come up behind her.

"What are you doing out here?" She demanded more than asked. Narcissa shrugged, and Bella groaned.

"Oh, not this again." She whipped around and glared at Bellatrix.

"Narcissa, he'll be doing the Dark Lord a great service!" Narcissa didn't give a damn about what the Dark Lord needed. Call him a Momma's boy, but nobody laid a hand on her son unless they wanted to be cursed into oblivion. Sadly she couldn't do that to the Dark lord. School would be awful for Draco this year. He'd be too preoccupied thinking about this to focus on his N.E.. He'd get in trouble a lot, she'd get letters home from Severus-Severus. That was it. She jumped up, running back in the house, looking for her cloak.

"Cissy? Where are you going?" Bella asked, chasing after her.

"To Severus. He's the only one that can help me now." She said breathlessly. Bella looked like she had been slapped in the face. She didn't like Severus Snape, she didn't like him at all.

"No, you can't!" She made a grab for Narcissa's arm, but it was too late. She had disapparated. Grumbling, she pulled her cloak on as well and apparated.

They were scrambling up a muddy hillside, to see Snape, much against what Bellatrix thought.

In the end though, who out of Cissy, Bella, Snape, Voldemort, Dumbledore, and Draco would still be alive? That's right. Fight for what you love.


	7. Chapter 7

The Manor's Mistress "Narcissa Malfoy and that time she saved everybody" It was over. Voldemort was dead. Along with Voldemort, though, countless others would never come back. Including Bellatrix. It was odd, thinking of her sister as dead. Molly Weasley had killed her, and she would never be able to forgive her for that. At the same time though, Mrs. Weasley had been avenging her dead son. If god forbid, Draco, had been hurt, would she have been able to stand by and watch the killer keep taking lives? Narcissa walked among the bodies, the people weeping over them, crying, willing them to wake up. Her niece, who she hadn't known, was among them, lying next to her husband. She didn't know she felt about those deaths. She had heard that she had just had a baby. That would make herself a great aunt. Would anybody go and tell Andromeda? Potter would. Or the Weasley's. Nobody would expect her to. Potter. She had saved him. She could easily have said that no, he wasn't dead, but she didn't. She lied to one of the greatest wizards of all time, and got away with him. It still stunned her. She sat down in the entrance hall, on the half crumbling steps. She didn't know where Lucius or Draco were at the moment, but she didn't have to worry about that anymore. She heard a clearing of throats behind her, and she turned to see Bill and George Weasley, and Harry Potter himself making their way towards her. She raised her eyebrows. Potter stood closest to her, with either one on his left and right. He nodded at her. "Thank you." Of course he was thanking her. How on earth was she supposed to respond to that? "You're welcome." "I'll make sure you and your family don't go to Azkaban." Both Weasley's glanced at him as he spoke. "Why would you do that?" She appreciated it, but she didn't think she deserved it. "If anybody else had come to check…If I was alive, they would have told him I was. You lied, for whatever reason." She wasn't going to tell Potter it was because she no longer cared about who won the stupid war. He could wonder his entire life but it wasn't any of his business. "Well, thank you." She said awkwardly. The pair of four looked at each other. Silently, the Weasley's walked away. Being close to her might be too painful. "I'm not going to say I'm sorry about your sister." "I don't expect you to." Narcissa sighed through her nose and stood up, brushing herself off. Potter turned to walk away, but she had one last think to say to him. "Potter?" "Yes?" "Tell…Andromeda. About her daughter and…and son in law." He nodded. "I was always planning on it. I have to go and see Teddy, anyway." He said shrugging. "Her grandson's name is Teddy?" He nodded again. "Yes. After his grandfather. I'm his godfather." He shifted his weight from foot to foot before leaving, Narcissa's mouth slightly parted. Her great nephew's godfather was Harry Potter. Which means she wasn't entirely through with seeing the boy yet. 


End file.
